Pete Frampton from "The Herd" - I Don't Want Our Lovin' To Die (and rise to stardom)

Welcome to another trip down memory lane and a brief encounter with one of England's Rock greats, Pete Frampton. 

In 1968 I was 17, about to leave school and 'in a relationship' with Karen across the street where we lived. She was absolutely bonkers about her heartthrob, Pete Frampton (the singer) of The Herd, and played this hit of theirs until there was a well-worn groove in the 45rpm record vinyl. He joined a fairly long line of Popstars that Karen was going to marry. I was no competition!

We had no clue at that stage of our lives that Pete Frampton would go on to be a worldwide megastar. So funny to watch this typical 1960's output from the band.

Frampton's early influences were Cliff Richard & the Shadows (featuring guitarist Hank Marvin) and American rockers Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran and later the Ventures, Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles. His father introduced him to the recordings of Belgian gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.

You can read more about his long and extensive musical career on Wikipedia

It wasn't until 1976 that Pete really hit the big time with a live Album 'Frampton Comes Alive' which really took off in the USA. My goto track from this period, amongst many worthy contenders, would be "Do You Feel Like We Do", featuring the use of the 'Talkbox' introduced to Frampton by Peter Drake in 1972 and which became Frampton's trademark. It was released as a single. Watch this live performance in the USA, of this track from the aforementioned album. I particularly love the Talkbox section and subsequent guitar riff (up there with the best) towards the end of the performance. Great keyboards too!

So by 1976 Frampton could do no wrong and his USA success is exemplified by the following early 1977 live stadium gig where he sings "Baby, I Love Your Way" to a packed out, swooning arena,  Oakland Coliseum Stadium, USA.

Peter Frampton is now 70 years old and announced a final goodbye to live touring last year, largely precipitated by his illness, inclusion body myositis (IBM), which he gives as his reason for retirement.

If you are still interested, I found this recent interview Pete gave to the excellent Rick Beato Channel on YouTube.

If you like these and other posts, I would love to hear your reactions and for you to add any of your own comments about the artist. Lastly, you can follow the blog and be notified of future posts by entering your preferred email address in the right-hand column above. 

Thanks for listening!

2018 Dimash Kudaibergen, "S.O.S." 《A Soul's Plea for Help》

After many encounters with remarkable singers over the years, I have to put this guy up there as one of, if not the best singer in the World today. As an introductory to his power, range and extraordinary talent, listen to this rendition of S.O.S. from 2018. Since then, he has continued to wow and confound those of us following his performances on YouTube (His Wikipedia page)

N.B. It is sung in French.....English lyrics below video or switch on English subtitles in YouTube:-

Why do I live, why do I die

Why do I laugh, why do I cry
Here is the SOS
Of an earthling in distress
I never had my feet on the ground
I would rather be a bird
Feel bad in my own skin.

I'd like to see the world upside down
It could be more beautiful
Better from above
From above

I always mixed up my life
With old childish fantasies
It's like I need a metamorphosis
I feel something strange
That pulls me
That pulls me
That pulls me
upwards.

In the big lottery of the universe
I didn't pull the right number
I feel bad in my own skin.

It could be more beautiful
Better from above
From above

Why do I live, why do I die
Why do I laugh, why do I cry
I'm getting waves of air
Coming from another world.

I never had my feet on the ground
It could be more beautiful
Better from above
It could be more beautiful
Sleep now my child

Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence (Live in Berlin)

A little distracted lately, but to continue.....

The title resonates with the COVID lockdown quite nicely and what a fantastic Live DM performance in Berlin from their 2013/14 tour. Great crowd and nice dance moves...Love it!

Led Zeppelin - Since I've Been Loving You (July 1973) Madison Square Garden

I know, I know. I hear you saying "are you going mad you’ve just posted this track?". Well forgive me, that was a studio re-mastered version.

Before you pass on this, please just indulge me. Watch and listen to this masterful LIVE performance from 1973.

I won’t say anymore than just LEGENDARY!

Since I've Been Loving You (1990 Remaster)

From the Led Zeppelin III album, this one’s definitely got its feet dipped in the blues. I love the nice long lead-in employing the Hammond Organ until Robert Plant’s amazing voice kicks in. We are also then treated to the effortless backing combo of John Paul Jones’ bass line (produced simultaneously with his organ part throughout via bass pedals instead of bass guitar) And last but not least John Bonham’s unique runs on drums. If that’s not enough, in comes an amazing guitar solo by Jimmy Page who also, throughout, demonstrates a fantastic ability to change his sound in harmony with Robert Plant’s delivery. A truly wonderous performance with elements of rock mixed in.

By the end, can we honestly say which of these is the better musician? As said in an earlier post, people often think of Led Zeppelin just for their 3 or 4 signature songs such as the pumping “Whole Lotta Love”, “Stairway to Heaven”, etc. This performance exemplifies their maybe less well known music and again demonstrates a wide ranging ability from each band member.

Nick Drake - River Man

I believe it was my son that first introduced me to Nick Drake. He had a significant influence on so many artists during his short life, he died aged 26 in strange circumstances in 1974.

He left behind a fairly small but exquisite body of work, the tragedy being that he came to fame after he died.

Someone once said you never forget the first time you listened to Nick Drake. Mine was the first of hundreds. See what you think…

Led Zeppelin - How Many More Times (Danmarks Radio 1969)

The studio recording of this track was done in 1968 for their first album “Led Zeppelin”, however this introductory performance is a shockingly good, Live exposé of their individual artistry.

"I’d like to introduce Led Zeppelin to you" and rock ‘n roll was changed forever. This audience were typical of the day, very reserved, and you wonder if they understood what they were witnessing. This was 1969 for goodness sake! The drummer, John Bonham and Robert Plant the singer were just 20 years old, Jimmy Page lead guitar is 25 and John Paul Jones on base is 24. Already each one is a master of his art.

I personally feel incredibly lucky to be born when I was. At this point I had just turned 18 and starting out as a mature student. We had just lived our teenage years through the most incredible decade with The Beatles influence and here we were poised for the next Rock, Folk and Hippy revolution. For me, this started with a bang as in the early Summer of 1970 at Shepton Mallett, I attended one of the forerunners of Glastonbury, the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music

The Music Gods of the future were assembled in what seems now like an incredible set list that included Fairport Convention, Johnny Winter, Steppenwolf, John Mayall, Canned Heat, Pink Floyd, Santana, The Byrds, Moody Blues, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Led Zeppelin, Donovan(Guest) and Jefferson Airplane.

It rained apart from when Zeppelin came on and then the sun came out. They were late because Robert Plant got stuck in a Bath traffic jam, so the Hell’s Angels went to get him. Meanwhile, Donovan was in the crowd and to our rapturous astonishment went on stage and played a set!

Here is a silent clip of this ground breaking Festival

In closing, many of us will know and recognise Led Zeppelin's top, commercially successful tracks… “Whole Lotta Love” and “Stairway to Heaven” (I will post these at some point), but I wanted to lay down some of the early beginnings of Led Zeppelin first and also cover some of their lesser known work.